Want cheaper console games? DUST 514's devs may have found a way

Developer CCP is eager to release the first free-to-play FPS on PS3, DUST 514.

Last week, a number of arguments were made that video games, both new and used, cost too much. The timing of a push for cheaper gaming favors developer CCP Games and their new project, DUST 514. The first-person shooter, scheduled for release sometime this year, will be the first free-to-play triple-A game for the PlayStation 3.

A free competitive shooter will be the an enticing angle for console-only gamers, but PC-gamers will recognize DUST 514 as the anticipated companion to EVE Online, a massively multiplayer online game about military strategy and political bureaucracy that has indoctrinated hundreds of thousands of players. DUST 514 and EVE will act in tandem, the political leaders on PC paying the soldier on console in-game currency to fight ground wars. Or to put it another way, DUST 514 players will be paid (virtual) money to play for free.

We spoke with CCP's chief marketing officer David Reid about how his company will recruit newcomers to the console-PC, casual-hardcore, shooter-strategy hybrid EVE universe.